Sugar - Vessel / SleepToken ff

~ 29 ~

.<<• Vessel •>>.

The cabin was still, the only sounds that filled the air was the gentle breaths of air from Jade's delicate breathing. She was so fragile in This state, making it even harder to shake the weight of guilt that flooded me from head to toe.

Sleep had told me exactly what had happened and his plan all along. He just didn't know how to fix the mistake he made.

Sleep had changed Jade, choosing her as his next vessel, and I had let it happen. Even though there wasn't much I could do, I still barley stood in the way. I think it was because I was scared of something like last time would repeat itself.

I was quiet alone in the village at this point. II, III, and IV had ridden off to seek the being in the cave, leaving me behind to tend to her... to protect her from the unknown dangers that lay ahead... and to protect the world from the darkness that could be released from her pure existence. But I knew the truth: Jade was not merely sleeping; she was caught between worlds, and I feared that she may enter a state of limbo for eternity of we did not find a way to finish off the process soon.

Cuddled against her, I listened to the soft rise and fall of her breath, forcing my mind to think of other things. I began to hum an awfully familiar melody, one that I have sung many times for those who would listen.  Jaws  I named it. A tune that reflected the consequences of still loving someone for the pure point of the feeling you get when they do right by you, even when they hurt you more often then not. Eventually it becomes a game, to see how far they can love you before  The Delicate Stops,  before they show Thier true colours. Before they take a bite of your existence with their Pretty White Jaws.

Despair wrapped around me. I had seen too much darkness, felt the weight of expectations, and feared that I was not enough. It was in this moment of vulnerability that Sleep found me, his voice like silk, wrapping around my spirit. “Do you wish to know the truth?” he whispered suggestively, urging me to listen. “I can offer you power, Fame, and prosperity. All you need to do is let go of this burdensome soul you cling to.”

In my confusion, I leaned towards his words, blinded by the allure of promise. What choice did I have? I had failed everyone around me. My stomach said it was a bad decision, but mind made its choice.

Suddenly, I felt a stir beside me, snapping my thoughts back to the present. Jade’s eyelids fluttered, the natural dark green of her eyes slowly shifting to a haunting light grey. It was as if she were caught between two realms—one where she was still herself, and another where she belonged to Sleep. Our gazes locked, and I felt her stare pierce deep into my soul, searching for something long lost.

“Vessel…?” she whispered, her voice barely above a breath. I could see the struggle in her eyes, a flicker of recognition before the light began to fade away. “You're... Here?”

The question struck me like a cold wave, crashing over my earlier resolve. I didn’t know how to respond—a collision of fear and hope. Is she still Jade? Or had the darkness taken over. Then I hear That dark Husk in my mind. "She is not fully turned yet, she is still Jade for now, she will not harm you, Vessel" Sleep insisted. “I said I'd never leave your side, of course I'm here, Jade...” I replied, my voice holding a tone of suprise that she wouldn't expect me to be here for her.

Her eyes widened, the grey swirling with suprise and confusion. She scrunched her face up briefly before pinching her arm. "Am I... Awake? Or is this still a dream?" she challenged, the strain in her voice telling me that she was unsure of her reality.

"This is all real, Sugar, you're not asleep anymore, trust me" I expressed comfortingly but she pulled away from my arms and lent against the wall,, studying me for a while.

She shook her head—slowly at first, but then with increasing ferocity, as if shaking off the remnants of her nightmarish thoughts “You arnt going to force me to do anything?,” she declared, her voice gaining a more questionable tone. “You're not dead...? I didn't, I didn't kill you?”

That spark of hope that she would be happy to see someone such as myself began to fade as Jade’s words tunnel their way through my ears. kill me? What is she on about.

Reaching out, I grasped her hand, and she squeezed it in return, I stared deep into her eyes to seem as authentic about my next words as I could, In an attempt to calm her untrusting words.

"Jade, listen to me. You have never tried to kill me... Not that I know of and I would never force you to do anything you didn't want to unless it was saving your life. Whatever you think happens was a Trial, Sugar. It was not real" I stated, and she looked down at the wooden floors of the cabin before placing her eyes back on mine again.

"Okay, I believe you" she whispered before reaching back into my arms.

She then asked where the others had disappeared to, and if III had been killed by II, her brother. I explained once again  that it was all in her head, something that Sleep had put there as a trial for her, none of it was real.

She was thankful that I reassured her but was slightly stunned when I told her that we were the only ones in the Village.

"How come? Where are the other Vessels, and where are the people that live here?" She questioned

"Sleeps children have gone for their monthly earth visit, but Sleep has Locked them out for a while until we sort everything out" I explained to her and she listened intently

"What about the others?" I hoped she wouldn't ask, as I was not sure how to answer. Do I tell that she could ruin thousands of people's lives with the darkness she could release if she to chose to tap into it? Do I tell her that the only way to save her life is to find a being that is supposedly in a cave in the Forrest that the other Vessels have gone to find? Do I tell her that if this doesn't work Sleep will have to murder her in order to save Eden?

Of course I don't tell her that, she would worry too much.

"They've gone to go find the source of some of the Sleep Spawn, y'know, the creatures that he created, they were becoming dangerouse so he sent the others out to kill of a couple of them, keep them from hurting the rest of the Village". That's all I told her, not a complete lie though guilt still bottled up in me, but soon enough we would have to take down the numbers of those monsters.

She nodded at my answer and we sat in silence for a while, she drifted back to sleep and I hoped that she would wake up quicker than before.

I really do hope that the Boys are able to find whoever we are looking for, I don't want to lose Jade... Though I would never admit it out loud...